


An Empty Spot to Fill

by VioletRoseLily



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drama, Family, Family Bonding, Family Dynamics, Family Issues, Family Secrets, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Grief, Male-Female Friendship, Running Away
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-25
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2019-07-17 06:00:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16089518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VioletRoseLily/pseuds/VioletRoseLily
Summary: In a twist of fate, after being kicked out, Stanley hits a tree and meets a family who are willing to take him in. They provide him with the support to succeed and he helps them heal. Along the way, Stanley tries to rebuild his relationship with his family especially Ford.





	1. A Lucky Break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stanley hits a tree and gets a new home in the process.

As if it wasn't bad enough that he had been kicked out of his home. Bad enough that his entire family hated him. Bad enough that he had no place to go and he had to sleep in his car. Bad enough that he barely had any money or clean clothes left.

Just when Stanley thought his situation couldn't possibly get any worse, it started raining heavily, the air-conditioner broke down and his car had just skidded off the road, slamming into a tree and now he couldn't move from underneath the air cushion.

Great. Just great. He was gonna die out here and no one would care. Just flipping fantastic.

This morning he was on his way to Las Vegas, hoping to use the last bit of the money he had left to play the slots and become a big winner. He was passing through a small town in Delaware when the storm hit and his precious car skidded on the slippery road, slamming into a tree and he nearly got knocked out by the air cushion.

Stan was recovering from the shock and reeling from the pain as he contemplated what to do when suddenly the driver door was opened from the outside and someone grabbed the air cushion off of him.

"Are you injured badly?" a woman asked sternly as she studied his appearance critically.

"No, just bruised," Stanley replied, as he undid his seat-belt and tried to get out of the car only to fall down when his leg gave out. "Or something might be broken." Apparently, it had stopped raining and now he could see that the tree he had slammed into was actually on someone's yard and that a branch had fallen down on the hood of his car.

"Dan, I think we should call an ambulance," the woman shouted to someone Stanley couldn't see.

"I don't have insurance," he informed her as she helped him back into the driver seat.

"Well then I will call your parents and they-"

"No they won't," Stanley interjected bitterly, wondering if Pops would even care that he had nearly died in a car accident.

The woman's eyes fell on the backseat of Stanley's car where his duffle bag and two cans of gas were; an emotion that Stanley couldn't quite place flashed across her face, disappearing so fast he thought he must have imagined it.

"Well then we'll pay for it and you can stay in our house for as long as you need to," she said with a tiny edge of sympathy in her voice. Then she extended her hand towards him. "My name is Mary White, what's yours?"

"Stanley Pines, Ma'am," Stanley replied, shaking her hand. "And I guess I don't really have much of a choice about staying." He mournfully looked at the front of his beautiful car which now looked like a smashed tin can.

"I call a mechanic and see what we can do," Mary assured him.

She was offering to let him stay in her house and fix his car for free not to mention paying for his medical bills. Stan was beginning to think this woman was too good to be true.

A man, whom Stanley guessed was Dan, came limping up to Mary with a cane in his hands. "They should be here in a few minutes. Should I tell the girls to pick up their brother and meet us at the hospital?" he inquired waiting for his wife to nod before he turned to Stanley with a kind smile. "You doing okay there, son? That was a nasty crash."

"Yeah, I'm fine, sir," Stanley said, trying not to flinch when the man called him son.

"We should call your parents so they know you're okay. What's their number?" Dan inquired.

"Don't bother. They won't want to hear about me," Stanley half-lied. His mother might want to know that he was okay but if she heard that he had been in a car accident and broken his leg, she would want to see him and knowing his father, he wouldn't let her.

"Are you sure? Because-"

"Dan, go call Sam," Mary cut him off abruptly, shooting her husband a meaningful look. Her husband nodded before limping back to the house. "He doesn't pick up signals as well as I do," she explained bluntly.

"Oh and what signals are you picking up exactly?" Stanley asked with a laugh, wondering if this woman thought she knew his whole life story.

"Enough," Mary said vaguely, not bothering to elaborate.

Stanley was not sure where to go with that so he let the subject drop but that didn't mean he wasn't curious as to why this woman seemed so determined to help him. Her husband seemed like the type of guy who would give someone the shirt off his back, she, on the other hand, looked stern and gruff albeit with a softer side but still not the type that would willingly open her home to a complete stranger.

"So why exactly are you helping me?" he questioned curiously.

"Because I want to," she replied, that strange emotion flashing across her face again.

* * *

The ambulance arrived and the paramedics came and brought Stanley to the hospital with his new caretakers driving their car behind him.

"I am actually surprised that it was only your leg was broken," the doctor remarked. "You were lucky."

"I certainly feel like I was," Stanley muttered sarcastically. "So I just gotta wear this stupid cast for a few weeks."

"At least a month, Mr. Pines," the doctor informed him, causing his patient to groan. "Don't worry, I'm sure Dan has an extra cane you can borrow if you don't want to use crutches. Although knowing Mary, she won't let you move unless she's sure you won't hurt yourself."

"I take it that you know them well," Stanley guessed, wondering if the doctor would give him any details on why this couple were being so generous to him."

"Dysfunction Junction is a pretty small town. We have only two doctors," he replied.

"Wait, wait, this town is called Dysfunction Junction," Stanley repeated, guffawing. "Well that isn't ominous or anything."

"Yes, our town founder had a sense of humor, I suppose," the doctor said, a small smirk on his face before sobering when a nurse came in with Stanley's test results. "Ah, here's some good news, it seems that other than a broken leg, you are perfectly healthy and therefore you are free to go."

With that, the older man helped Stanley off the hospital bed, handed him his crutches and walked with him to the waiting room.

Dan and Mary had been joined by two teenage girls and a boy who seemed to be eleven or twelve. Stanley guessed they must be Dan and Mary's children.

"Stanley Pines, this is our oldest daughter, Samantha, our second daughter, Eleanor and our son, David," Dan introduced to him before turning to his children. "This is Stanley Pines, kids, he will be living with us."

Stanley couldn't help but notice that he didn't say that he would only be staying for a while.

"And Mom is okay with letting a stranger- no offense, Stanley- live in our house?" the sixteen-year-old asked, glancing at her mother suspiciously.

"We should go. I have to make dinner for everyone," Mary said, not even acknowledging her daughter's question as she hurriedly walked out.

Okay, so judging from what the daughter had said, Stanley had been right when he assumed that inviting strangers to live with them wasn't normally what Mary would do. That just made him more curious as to why she had.

"Come, Stanley, you are in for a treat, my wife is a fantastic cook," Dan complimented, as he swung an arm around the boy's shoulder and leading him out of the hospital with his children trailing behind him.

* * *

 

"Can we stop for ice cream?" David asked eagerly as he sat next to Stanley in the middle seat of the minivan while the two sisters sat behind them.

"Ice cream is not dinner," Mary said sternly.

"Come on, Mary, I'm sure after a car crash, Stanley would like to have some ice cream. Wouldn't you, Stan?" Dan asked hopefully, turning around looking just as eager as the boy sitting next to Stanley.

"Ice cream does sound nice," Stanley admitted, winking at David who was beaming at him. That kid looked as cute as he and… Ford had.

Dammit, he nearly had gone a whole day not thinking about Ford. And now that he was, he couldn't even look at David, instead opting to glance up where he spotted Mary studying him through the rear view mirror.

"Alright, I suppose I can bend the rules just this once," Mary decided with a sigh, causing both Dan and David to cheer.

Eleanor poked Stanley in the shoulder and whispered: "Are you a good witch or a bad witch?"

Stan laughed. "A little bit of both, I suppose."

As they rode to the ice cream store, Stanley studied the family, trying to get a read off them.

Mary seemed like she was in charge, picking the radio station for them to listen to, ordering David not to stick his head out the window.

Dan seemed more easygoing, willing to play along with his children's games, joking around with them. He also kept drawing both Samantha and Stanley into conversations, often asking their opinions for no other reason besides the fact that they hadn't spoken in a while.

David was eager to talk, telling stories of his day at camp and what he was hoping to do tomorrow. He was excitable and cheerful, reminding Stanley even more about himself: a free spirit.

Eleanor was around Stanley's age but she acted like more like a kid when she was playing with her brother. Like her father, she focused quite a lot of her time, getting her sister to be engaged in the conversation.

The oldest was Samantha who seemed to be only three years older than her sister-which made Stanley ponder why there was such a large gap between Eleanor and David- and she seemed like a stoic and somber girl who seemed more interested in her books than anything else.

The family as a whole seemed loving and supportive of each other which made Stanley feel rather jealous.

He couldn't help but wonder what Ford would think of this family if he was here. While their dad was certainly more supportive of Ford than his twin, he certainly wasn't as friendly as Dan nor did he have a hidden softness that Mary had.

* * *

Once they arrived at the ice cream store, the kids took one table while the adults took the one adjacent to them.

"So Stanley, where are you from?" David asked, as he slurped his ice cream.

"Glass Shard Beach, New Jersey," Stan answered, taking a hungry bite of the ice cream. He had been so focused on his leg that he had forgotten that he hadn't eaten since yesterday.

"Well that sounds like a fun place to live," Ellie snarked.

"Says the person who lives in Dysfunction Junction," Stanley countered with a grin.

"Fair point."

"Amelia's coming," Samantha announced matter of factly as she closed her book.

Eleanor stiffened, glancing at her mother and then the fifteen-year-old girl who was walking towards the ice cream shop.

"Well, I guess we're gonna be seeing fireworks," she said with a sigh.

"No, Mom wouldn't yell in front of David and our guest," Samantha contradicted, gesturing at Stanley as if no one knew who she was talking about.

"This is Mom, we're talking about. She holds onto grudges like most people would hold onto their jewelry," Eleanor pointed out, then she frowned. "Not to mention Amelia never got punished for what she did."

"Now who's holding the grudge?" Samantha asked, an eyebrow raised. "You know full well that she was grounded and I think being yelled at by our mother was a punishment enough."

"Just because I'm not you and I can't get over things as fast as you do, does not mean that I hold grudges," Eleanor snapped.

"Don't start that again," Samantha growled, her eyes narrowed.

"Please don't fight," David implored them, his watering and his lower lip quivering. Stanley noticed he was digging his fingernails into his arms and quickly understood that the preteen was trying to make himself cry in order to stop his sisters from fighting. That kid was definitely a miniature-him.

"So who is that girl and why do we hate her?" Stanley inquired, glancing at the girl in question who did not seem to notice the family as she rummaged through her bag for money.

The three siblings were quiet, none of them looking at him.

"It's complicated," Eleanor finally said, still looking at her chocolate ice cream which was slowly melting in its cup as she swirled her spoon in it. "We don't hate her. We just aren't happy with her."

"Mom hates her," David pointed out.

"No, she doesn't. She just hasn't forgiven her and probably won't ever do so," Eleanor told them, wincing at her own words.

"So nobody wants to fill me in the details," Stanley guessed.

"That depends, would you like to tell us why a seventeen-year-old is living in his car?" Samantha inquired dryly.

"Sammy!" Ellie exclaimed, glaring at her sister.

"Nah it's okay, I get it, I got too personal," Stanley said with a strained smile, trying to act as though that hadn't been a gut punch.

* * *

They ate the rest of their ice cream in silence and soon all six of them piled into the car. While there had been no fireworks, Stanley could guess by the stormy silence that Mary and Dan had seen that Amelia girl and whatever had happened was enough to make the car ride home filled with tension.

Dan, however, did his best to ignore the tension by talking to Stanley about everything he could think of, including whether or not he liked to fish.

"Well there's a lake nearby, maybe when your leg is feeling better, we can go catch some fish," Dan suggested, sounding pleased.

"Sure, sir," Stan said politely as Mary and Eleanor helped him out of the car and into the house.

"Would you like to watch TV or get some rest?" Mary asked, gesturing to the couch.

"Uh, I can just sit on the couch for now, I'm not tired," Stan assured her.

"Good, I'll bring you a plate when I'm done with dinner," Mary told him as she put his cast on top of the table and hastily shoved a pillow behind him.

"Thank you, Ma'am," Stanley said awkwardly, feeling quite uneasy with being so pampered.

"Just call us Dan and Mary. We are too young to be Sir and Ma'am," Dan told him, as he sat down in the armchair and turned on the TV. "Mind if I watch the news?"

"It's your TV," Stanley pointed out.

"I think there is a monster movie marathon on Channel Eight," David suggested.

"I wanted to watch the Mary Tyler Moore show," Eleanor complained.

"I'm going to go read," Samantha decided.

"Dinner will be ready in an hour so everyone will sit down and watch the news," Mary commanded from the kitchen.

"Yes Mom," her three children chorused as they took their seats on the floor in front of the TV.

Dan smiled. "Never had to raise my voice in twenty years because of that woman," he muttered, sounding affectionate.

As Stanley tried to get more comfortable on the couch, he glanced at the pictures on the mantel place and he noticed that in what he assumed as a family picture, there was an extra person there. Standing in-between David and Eleanor was a fourteen-year-old girl who was wearing large hoop earrings and bell-bottoms just like the ones his ex-girlfriend had worn.

He opened his mouth to ask the four people watching the TV where this girl-most certainly the third sister- was when his eyes meet Eleanor's. When she saw Stanley holding that picture, she silently shook her head, stopping him from asking any questions.

He placed the picture back and returned to the television, starting to understand why he had been invited to stay in their home. They were looking to fill the void their family member had left behind.

A part of him wondered if his mother, Sherman and Ford were doing the same thing or if they even missed him at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so here's my first Gravity Falls fic. This is sort of an experiment to see if I can write OCs people will find interesting. That being said my OCs are supporting characters and this is more Stanley's journey to finding a way to fix things between him and his brother by first bettering himself. I need feedback. I need to know if my OCs are interesting, what you liked or disliked about them and so on. I would like to know if anyone figured out the whole there was a third sister before Stanley finds out in the end.
> 
> Also how's my characterization? Stanley didn't get a lot of chance to show up his sneaky conman side but that's only because he's trying to wrap his head around the new situation he's in.


	2. Welcome

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Stanley gets comfortable in the White household, he finds himself growing closer to the family of five.

Life was not fair. Stanley Pines was aware of that---painfully aware that life was never fair. Of course, there would be setbacks to a nice big family welcoming him into their home for the foreseeable future. When they learned that Stan had dropped out of high school, Dan had wanted to enroll him at their local high school so he could graduate and go to college.

The worst part is he was certain that if he said no, Dan would understand, he would be disappointed but the older man would accept Stanley’s decision. During the first three weeks living with the Whites, he had noticed that Dan’s disappointment was a much more powerful motivator than Mary’s anger.

“He doesn’t even do it on purpose,” Ellie had said when Stanley had pointed that out. “Which just makes us feel guiltier.”

However, just because he didn’t want to disappoint Dan, that didn’t mean Stanley was just going to go along with what he wanted.

“Sir, I gotta say that I don’t think that would be a good idea. I completely suck at school. My teachers all agreed that I was a lost cause,” Stanley told him, trying to laugh off being viewed as hopeless moron. The only reason he hadn’t flunked out of school is because he would copy off of Ford.

“Son, I have been a teacher for the past twenty-five years and I have not given up on a student yet,” Dan said firmly, his lips pressed thinly together with a look of determination in his eyes. “I have an idea, let’s make a deal. For the next month I will be your teacher and your tutor and if you get a 60 or higher on a test that I will design for you, I will give you five hundred dollars and you will consider going back to school.”

Stanley’s mouth fell open. Five hundred bucks for getting a D? This guy was either really stupid or really smart.

“Okay, you got a deal.”

“Dad, maybe the five hundred should be if he gets ninety or higher, two hundred and fifty dollars if he gets eighty, one hundred and twenty-five dollars if he gets seventy and so on,” Samantha suggested as she fetched a glass of water.

“Sounds good to me. Stanley, do we still have a deal?” Dan questioned the teenager.

“Liked it better the first time but I guess I still be getting money either way,” Stanley grumbled, shooting the older girl a dirty look.

“Perhaps for his first question he could calculate how much he’ll get if he gets sixty points,” Samantha prodded, sounding just a little smug.

“I can divide by half. It would be about sixty bucks,” Stanley told her matter of factly, remembering how he and Stanford had broken some sort of figurine in their dad’s shop that cost about a hundred and twenty dollars and they each had to earn sixty dollars in order to pay it off.

“Close. Sixty-two dollars and fifty cents,” Samantha corrected.

“What are you? A human calculator?” Stanley demanded, half-annoyed and half-amazed that she seemed to know that off the top of her head.

“All right, that’s enough out of both of you,” Dan said firmly as he pulled a big book out of his briefcase and put it on the kitchen table. “Now Stanley, let’s get started with something simple: algebra.”

In times like this, Stanley wished his leg wasn’t still healing so he could run away instead of being stuck in the kitchen forced to listen to an algebra lesson from an all too eager math teacher.

* * *

 In the end Stanley’s love of money won over his hatred of school and he spent the next three days listening to Dan’s lectures and even started taking notes. That sixty-two bucks and fifty cents would be worth it.

“Stanley, can you help me?” David asked, standing by the couch where Stanley was filling out the “homework” Dan had assigned him.

“Well I’m kinda busy but if you really need my help, I guess I can tear myself away,” Stanley deadpanned, practically throwing the papers on the coffee table. “What can I do ya for, little man?”

“Billy is opening a lemonade stand and won’t let me help so I told him that I would make my own and make more money than he would,” David explained, looking rather embarrassed. “The only problem is we don’t have any lemonade so I wondering if you could help me make some.”

“I would but there’s a problem with making the lemonade ourselves, Billy is gonna have a head start unless we can find an edge,” Stanley informed him rubbing his chin in thought. “Your mom manages a restaurant, right? Any chance that they sell lemonade that they would be willing to give us for free.”

David’s eyes lit up. “And then I could sell the lemonade for less money than Billy is asking for which would get me more customers and profit,” he finished.

Stanley grinned at him. This kid definitely had potential.

“Now you’re thinking like a business man,” Stanley told him, resisting the urge to tousle the boy’s hair.

Surprisingly Mary was not opposed to the idea and she retrieved two jugs of lemonade from her restaurant, promising to go get more if they ran out.

Soon both Stanley and David sat in the front yard, selling lemonade to whoever passed by.

“Step right up folks for the best lemonade you ever tasted,” Stanley shouted as though he was a sideshow barker, he even swung one of his crutches out like it was a cane. “It’s guaranteed to taste like sunshine.”

“It doesn’t taste like sunshine to me,” a kid a few years younger than David complained.

“How would you know? Have you ever tasted sunshine?” Stanley retorted. The kid gave him an annoyed look as he walked away, sipping his lemonade.

“A very good point,” a teenaged girl remarked as she put down her quarter and David poured her a small glass of lemonade. “So you must be the Stanley Pines everyone is talking about?”

 “People are talking about me?” Stanley asked in surprise.

“It’s a small town,” the girl replied, wrinkling her nose in distaste. “Too small if you ask me. Your arrival is the first interesting thing that has happened in months.”

“Well it’s been interesting for me too. Breaking my leg and all,” Stanley deadpanned.

“Is it true that you’ve been traveling around the country?” the girl asked, not even glancing at Stanley’s leg.

“Well I---”

 “WHAT ARE YOU DOING ON MY PROPERTY!” Mary roared, as she stormed out of the house with Dan on her heels trying to get her to come back inside.

“I was just getting some lemonade,” the girl replied, her carefree attitude suddenly gone and she was staring apprehensively at the livid woman.

“Leave now and don’t let me catch you talking to my children again!” Mary shouted, glaring daggers at the girl who quickly backed away, practically running back to her own house.

“Mary, you are being far too harsh with her. She is just a child. There is no reason to treat her like she’s a criminal,” Dan said sternly.

His wife just glared at him and stormed back inside, slamming the door behind her. Dan gave both Stanley, David, and their remaining customers an apologetic smile before retreating to their house.

“I take it that was Amelia,” Stanley guessed as he filled another cup with lemonade.

“Yeah, she’s Tess’s best friend,” David replied, no longer able to look anyone in the eyes and he was now somber and unenthusiastic.

“Uh, you know I think we made enough money so let’s just close shop early,” Stanley suggested, handing the cups of lemonade to the remaining customers before turning to pick up the jar that was two thirds full of quarters and hand it to David. “All yours, little man, you earned.”

“Thanks Stan, you’re the best,” David said, smiling slightly as he hugged the older boy. “Tess and I always wanted an older brother and now we have one.”

 It didn’t escape Stanley’s notice that he was talking about his sister in present tense.

* * *

 

The rest of the month was rather uneventful until the day Stanley finally got his cast off. Now that he could walk freely, he went straight to the mechanic who was taking care of his baby.

“Be straight with me, doc, will she live?” Stanley asked dramatically.

“The front of the car and the hood was all banged up and the falling branch made it worse. The engine does not seem to be working properly so we will try to fix that as well. All in all, it will take nearly two thousand dollars to fix your car,” the mechanic explained, looking nonplussed by his antics.

“Two grand. Are you kidding me? That’s highway robbery. There is no way I’m gonna pay that kind of money when I can repair it myself,” Stanley said, suddenly serious.

Sherman had bought the car but he had gifted it to Stan when he got married and moved to New York City. Stanley had bought a personalized license plate and anytime he and Stanford weren’t working on the Stan-O-War, he was making his baby the envy of their entire street.

Despite the mechanic’s protests, the car was brought back the White’s garage via tow truck and Stanley used the money he had left to buy a new hood, front bumper and headlights.

“Didn’t my parents say that they would pay for your car to be fixed?” Ellie inquired, as she stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame.

“Me and my brother once turned a wrecked sailboat into a thing of beauty,” Stanley told her, beaming proudly before coming to the sudden realization that all their hard work was for nothing because Stanford had decided his stupid college was more important than their dream of sailing around the world.

With that thought in mind, he rather angrily tore off the dented hood and tossed it onto the ground.

  
“Whoa, are you okay there, Stan?” Eleanor asked, startled by his sudden anger. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Nah, I’m fine. It’s nothing.”

 “Are you sure? I’m an excellent listener,” she assured him, closing the door behind her so if Stanley did want to talk, he wouldn’t be heard by the rest of the household.

Feeling the need to get his frustration towards Stanford off his chest, Stanley acquiesced and recalled the whole story.

“Then Pops said I wasn’t welcome back home until I made a fortune,” he finished, keeping his eyes on the engine of the car so he didn’t have to see the look of pity he was sure was being sent his way.

“Damn, that is… messed up,” Eleanor said, sounding quite awkward. “I feel like I should hug you. Can I hug you?”

 Stan looked up at her, feeling amused despite himself.

 “I’m not exactly a hug guy,” he replied, trying not to smirk.

“Noted. Uh, would it help if I told you that I know what you were going through with your brother? I mean it wasn’t the same thing exactly. Sammy and I were always close and I’m only two years younger than her so I always kind of was dependent on her. But she was basically a child prodigy and so she finished high school two years after she began it. However she had promised that she would be there for me when I started. And I know it’s silly but I felt that she should have not skipped any grades and instead waited until I caught up with her. And that's not even remotely the same thing and I’m not making you feel any better,” Ellie rambled.

“No but I appreciate you trying through,” Stan said gratefully.

  
“Great. Well I’m gonna go before I stick my foot any further in my mouth,” Ellie stated opening the door, only to find her mother on the other side. “Oh my God, were you summoned by the door closing or something?” she asked in an incredulous and annoyed tone, making it clear that this was not the first time her mother had done this.

“I’m a mother. It’s in my nature not to want my daughters alone with someone of the opposite sex with the door closed,” Mary told her bluntly.

 “We were in the---what do you think we----seriously!” Eleanor spluttered, flustered and unable to form a complete sentence. She stalked past her mother, still muttering under her breath.

 “Do you need anything, Stanley?” Mary asked, a slight edge to her tone despite her friendly words.

“No, I’m good. And we’re only talking, Ma’am, nothing was gonna happen,” Stanley assured her, rubbing his neck in embarrassment. The look Mary was giving him was eerily similar to the one Carla’s folks had gave him when they found him in her daughter’s bedroom. The difference being something had happened—twice-- in that room before Mr. and Mrs. McCorkle had arrived home.

“I’m sure you’re right but you can never be too careful,” Mary remarked, her eyes narrowed before she turned around to leave. She took a half-step forward before stopping as if she had remembered something. “Stanley, I want you to know that you will always be welcome in this house.”

Without giving him time to respond, she shut the door behind her and left him in the garage.

* * *

 

When he heard the kitchen timer go off, Stanley kept a tight hold of his test papers, writing a random numbers down to the last few questions just on the off-chance that one of them was correct and he could get a few extra points.

  
“Pencil down, Stanley,” Dan ordered, folding his newspaper and putting it on the kitchen table before reaching over and snatching the test from the teenager. Then he walked over to the kitchen counter to start grading it, making sure Stanley couldn't see what he was doing.

“I gotta tell you. I was studying my ass off last night so I’m sure that I got at least sixty-five,” Stanley rambled as he apprehensively watched Dan marking his paper with a bland expression on his face, not giving Stan any clues on how badly he had done. “Pointdexter was always better at studying than me. I never really understood why he studied, he could pass any exam in his sleep. I always thought he was being ridiculous over how anxious he would get before and after each test that we took. I mean he always got an A, so why did he need to be stressed out?”

 Stanley was unsure if it took a couple of minutes or at least an hour for Dan to finally finish grading. He kept a fake confident smile on his face, hoping to hide the nerves he felt inside.

“Hmm, well I’m sorry to say that you were wrong, you did not get sixty-five,” Dan told him as flipped the papers back to the start and writing something on the first page.

Stan’s face fell. “Oh, then I guess I got an F. Yeah, I knew that would happen. It’s no big deal,” the teenager said with fake nonchalance, wanting to kick himself. Even when he tried, he still ended up being a big failure.

“You got a seventy-seven,” Dan informed him, beaming at him as he placed the test on the table for Stanley to look over.

Stanley’s eyes widened and his mouth fell open as he stared at the big red C+ and the circled seventy-seven written on top of the papers.

“Now I believe our deal was a hundred dollars for seventy or lower and if anyone asks that’s how much I have given you,” Dan continued, taking an envelope out of a drawer and handing it to the teenager with a wink.

Confused by that statement, Stanley looked into the envelope and quickly counted not a hundred bucks but five hundred dollars in the envelope.

“Thank you, Dan,” Stanley said in awe, jumping up and impulsively hugging the older man.

“Well you earned it. Imagine what grades you could get if you went back to school and applied yourself,” Dan remarked, looking at him meaningfully.

“Would you be giving me five hundred every time I got a C+?” Stanley joked.

“I’m not that nice,” Dan laughed, patting him on the back. “You promised you’d consider it and I promise not to be upset if your decision is no. But you have potential, son and it would be a shame to waste it.”

 Stanley was glad when Dan hobbled out of the room as he didn’t want the older man to see him trying to wipe away his tears of joy.

* * *

 

It wasn’t until a few days later did Stanley decide that he might as well go back to high school. After all it would be nice to prove that his old school teachers and principal were wrong about him.

The high school in Dysfunction Junction said that because he didn’t graduate last year---he had been kicked out before he could---he would have to retake his junior year. And if that wasn’t bad enough, according to Dan, they needed his school files (and medical records) which they only could get if they had his parents’ permission.

“Even though they kicked you out, your _parents_ are still your legal guardians,” Mary spat the word parents like it left a bad taste in her mouth. “So we will need to speak to them.”

“Fine. I’ll give you their number but I would suggest asking my mom, she’s probably the only one who won’t slam the phone down when she hears my name,” Stanley explained, causing Mary to look enraged.

“Maybe we should drive down there. I would love to meet your father,” she snarled.

“Mary,” Dan warned, giving her a stern look. “You are projecting.”

 “I am not,” Mary snapped, picking up the phone and looking at Stanley expectantly.

“Just try to control your temper and remember that she isn’t your mother,” Dan cautioned, causing his wife to throw him a dirty look.

* * *

 

It had been nearly five months since his twin had betrayed him, ruined his future and was kicked out and Stanford was unsure what to do with himself. The quiet atmosphere in their bedroom was unnerving, Sherman was currently not speaking to anyone, Mom was still moping and he found himself unable to stop walking past the swing set and the Stan-O-War.

Try as he might to focus on his anger towards Stanley, it didn’t stop Ford from feeling guilty and lonely. When the telephone rang, he half-hoped the caller would be Stanley even though he had nothing he wanted to say to his twin.

“Hello, you have reached the Pines residence. This is Stanford Pines speaking. May I ask who is calling?”

“I need to speak to Caryn Pines. It’s about her son, Stanley,” a cold voice said matter of factly.

“Uh, may I ask who is calling and what this is about?” Stanford questioned cautiously, wondering why on earth this strange woman would be calling about Stanley.

“Young man, I said I wanted to speak to Caryn Pines. It is none of your concern why I am calling. Go get your mother or whoever else actually cares about your brother’s wellbeing,” the woman snarled, her voice raising slightly.

“Mary!” Ford heard a man exclaim before there was the sound of shuffling and seconds later a new voice came onto the phone. “Hello son, I’m sorry about my wife. I’m Daniel White and we’re taking care of Stanley and we need to speak your mother about getting her permission to have some files of his.”

“Oh,” Ford said, unsure what to do with that information. Luckily Filbrick was running some errands so he didn’t have to worry about telling his mother who was calling and why.

His mother’s eyes lit up when he told her and she grabbed the phone from him, asking the man on the other line to speak to Stanley. Although he knew he should probably have left, Ford stayed in the room with his hands in his pockets, acting like he wasn’t listening to his mother’s conversation even though she surely had to know he was.

“Oh my sweet baby, I missed you so much. How are you? Are you all right?” Caryan asked, her smile wide. Unfortunately for Ford, he could not hear what Stanley was telling her but he noted that there was a moment when fear flicked across his mother’s face. “Okay. Can you put Mary on the phone? I want to talk to her.”

  
Stanford decided to return to his bedroom, thinking he could ask his mother what Stanley said after she finished her conversation. Or perhaps he wouldn’t. After all, he promised himself that he would stop worrying about Stanley and start thinking about his own future for a change. A future that would not be ruined by his selfish brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said, I really want feedback on how I'm doing writing the characters especially my OCs.  
> Just as an aside, I'm subscribing to the theory that Sherman Pines is the older brother of the Pine Twins and the baby we saw is his son who was being babysat by his grandparents. I'm also pretending that Stanley got kicked out before his seventeenth birthday at the end of his junior year.  
> Also silly author rambling but I when I was writing the part where Stanley says he's not a hug man, I was thinking just you wait, buddy, in about forty years there will be a girl who won't be taking no for an answer when she hugs you.


	3. Stan-O-War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stanley gets some visitors and decides to go on a midnight adventure in a borrowed car to take back his sailboat leading to a confrontation on the beach.

“You’re going where?! It will be over my dead body that you’ll go see that no-good screwup!” Filbrick Pines shouted as Stanford reentered the house, library books tucked under his arm.

As he closed the front door softly, Stanford wondered if he should just go up to his room or stay in the hallway, eavesdrop and find out what was going on. Hearing his older brother’s voice made him choose the latter, knowing that this discussion could be only about one person.

“Pa, I am a married man, a father and more importantly I don’t live here anymore. Therefore, I do not need your permission to do anything that I want to do,” Sherman informed him angrily. “I’m going to see my youngest brother and if Mom and Ford want to come with me, they are welcome to.”

“Why would you even want to see him? He’s someone else’s problem now. Just let that family he somehow conned into taking care of him deal with him and let’s just move on with our lives,” Filbrick snapped, sounding fed up with this conversation. “We all better off without him.”

“He’s your son and he nearly died!” Caryn shouted, raising her voice for the first time in years. “You can turn your back on your own flesh and blood as much as you want to but I’m seeing my baby.”

Filbrick must have been stunned into silence by his wife’s uncharacteristic anger because he said nothing else and seconds latter Stanford was discovered in the main hall by his mother and brother.

“Hey Ford,” Shermie greeted him, giving him a hug. “Ma and I were just heading out.”

“We’re going to see Stanley, would you like to come?” Caryn asked, her words gentle but hopeful.

“Um, I can’t. I have a lot of work to get done,” Stanford lied lamely, not looking at either of them in the eyes, knowing full well that neither his mother nor his brother would fail to see through his pathetic excuse. 

“Come on, Ford, it was an accident. Are you just gonna be mad at him forever?” Shermie demanded, shaking his head in exasperation.

“Sweetheart, you know your brother wouldn’t do something like that deliberately. If you would just come with us, I know you two can work things out,” Caryn implored him.

Stanford couldn’t help but feel angry by the implication that Stanley ruining his future was just an accident especially when it wasn’t. The fact that his mother and brother seemed to be taking Stan’s side despite the evidence pointing to the fact that he had sabotaged Ford’s project just made it worse. 

“Look, I just don’t want to see him, okay?” he said firmly, briskly walking up the stairs before Shermie could say anything else and before he could see the disappointment in his mother’s eyes.

When he reached his bedroom, the books he was carrying fell out of his hands, landing on the floor with a crack. All of his brother’s possessions were gone: the posters, the comics and even the sheets from Stanley’s bed had been taken from the room, leaving it looking half-empty.

This just made Ford feel even lonelier as he picked his books up and placed them on his desk, glancing over at the bunkbed he once shared with his twin forlornly.

“He cost you your future and our family as a chance of millions of dollars,” Filbrick remarked, causing Ford to nearly jump out of his skin. The older man was standing in the doorway, his face as expressionless as usual. “My only regret was not kicking him out before he had a chance to cost us all that money.”

Not for the first time, Ford wondered where his father got the whole millions of dollars from. After all, any money that the college would have given Ford would be used strictly for experiments. And however angry at Stanley he might be, if Ford were to chose the person with the most selfish motive, he would have to chose the hypocrite who thought his son was his ticket out of this dump.

It didn’t help that his father actually was regretting not kicking Stanley out sooner and the fact that he had already had a bag packed that fateful night made it even worse. And didn’t Ma mention---wait what was she talking about?

“Hey Pa, what did Ma mean when she said that Stanley almost died?” Ford asked, unable to keep the worry out of his voice.

“Apparently the knucklehead slammed his car into a tree, broke his leg,” Filbrick replied, turning around to leave. He took a few steps forward before stopping and saying one last thing. “Your brother is a selfish screw-up who lies about everything. However, I don’t think he intended on sabotaging you. He still messed up though.”

With that last gruff remark, Filbrick closed the door behind him, leaving a stunned Ford behind.

Unbelievable. Not even the man who kicked his youngest son to the curb and couldn’t care less that he was in a crash thought that Stanley had broken Ford’s science project. That was just the icing on the cake.

 

 

* * *

 

While Stanley knew that Mary was the manager and head-chef of what was the only restaurant in town, he had no idea that she was the owner as well until one day when he found her going over the electricity bill that was apparently getting higher. 

“Sorry if I’ve been watching too much TV, I just wanted to watch as much as I could before I had to go to school,” Stanley joked as he got a piece of pie from the fridge and sat down to eat it.

“Hmm? Oh no, it’s not the electricity bill for the house, but my restaurant,” the older woman told him, as she took out her checkbook.

“Oh. I thought the owner handles that.” Not that Stanley was much of a business man and his father had never hired anyone to help out the store who didn’t work for free. However, Sherman had worked in a restaurant as a manager and would spend endless hours complaining about how the owner was making him be the bad guy.

“I own it. Dan bought it for me as an anniversary present,” Mary explained nonchalantly as if men buying their wives businesses instead of jewelry or flowers was completely ordinary.

“Wow, he can afford a restaurant on a teacher’s salary,” Stanley said before taking a mouthful of pie. Granted it was a small restaurant in a small town but still, it seemed like a rather large gift.

“No, he used his inheritance,” Mary replied, finally looking up and grimacing when she realized Stanley had no napkin. She got up and handed him one before closing her checkbook and putting the paperwork in a drawer.

“Still that’s a pretty expensive present,” Stanley remarked, remembering how Dan had given him five hundred dollars for really nothing. If they didn’t live so modestly, he would think that these people were loaded. Of course them being rich would explain how they had paid for his medical bills and were willing to pay for two years of school for him. “For their last anniversary, Pa got Ma flowers he had found in the park.”

Mary frowned. “The more you talk about your father, the more I would just love to meet him,” she muttered darkly before smiling at Stanley. “Dan can go overboard sometimes but his heart is in the right place and that was thankfully the only grand romantic gesture of it’s kind.”

“I believe your exact words were---instead of saying thank you---were how much did this cost?” Dan deadpanned teasingly as he entered the kitchen, giving Mary a kiss on the cheek.

“It’s your money, Dan but that doesn’t mean I can’t be a little worried about your spending habits especially when you buy things impulsively,” Mary pointed out before softening. “Thank you for my restaurant.”

“So Stanley, I was thinking of taking David out fishing in a few days, would you like to come?” Dan asked, changing the subject now that he had made sure that his wife appreciated his gift to her.

“Sure, that sounds great,” Stanley replied, half-wondering if they would be fishing off a yacht before deciding that was ridiculous.

  
The boat Dan began to lovingly describe put the idea of fishing off a yacht to rest especially when he mentioned it being able to fit in his truck.

“Dad, Mom, there are strangers in our driveway!” David called from the living room seconds before the doorbell rang.

Mary got up and hurried to the living room. Stan and Dan could hear her scolding David for pointing at the strangers before opening the door and asking how she could help whoever it was.

“Stanley, could you come out here please,” Mary called, her tone was stiff as though she was doing her best to maintain her temper.

“I’m guessing your family arrived,” Dan said with a sigh before muttering under his breath. “At least she didn’t slam the door on their faces.”

Stanley swallowed. He knew that his father was not there---judging by Mary’s earlier words, she would slam the door on his father’s face---but maybe just maybe Ford had forgiven him and had come to see him.

Dan chose to wait until Stanley was ready before walking with him into the living room where the Pines and the rest of the Whites were waiting.

To the teenager’s disappointment, only Shermie and Ma were there but he supposed if Ford was dead set on hating him, then of course he didn’t want to face his twin. God forbid they might actually talk it out.

Caryn Pines was out of her seat within seconds, hugging her free spirit and Shermie wasn’t far behind.

“Thank goodness you are all right. I was so worried,” Caryn Pines gushed.

“Why don’t we bring the boxes of Stanley’s things to his room,” Mary suggested to her family, wanting to give the Pines some space.

Stanley vaguely wondered when the guest room had started being called his room.  But considering, Mary and Dan had pretty much adopted him from the minute he crashed into their tree and then weeks later, decided to enroll him into school, he supposed he shouldn’t be surprised.

“Why didn’t you call me, you knucklehead?” Shermie demanded, hugging his younger brother once their mother had decided to let me breathe. “You know I would have helped you out.”

“You were on vacation with your wife and I didn’t want to be a burden,” Stanley admitted.

“Stanley, you are not a burden. I’m so sorry, I should have stood up for you. I’m so sorry that I didn’t,” Caryn whispered, her eyes shining with unshed tears.

“Aw geez, Ma, don’t cry, I’m fine, honest,” Stanley assured her. Besides, Pa had been so set on kicking him out, he doubted that even if both Ma and Ford had stood up for him it would have changed anything.  

“Stanley, Pam and I would be happy to let you stay with us,” Shermie told him. “I’m sure Jay would love to share a room with his uncle.”

  
As much as Stanley loved his little nephew, sharing a room with a one-year-old would not be a pleasant experience. Besides he really didn’t want his brother and his brother's wife to be put out dealing with his expenses when he had nothing to give them in return.

It suddenly occurred to him that he was living rent-free with the Whites even paying for his education. While his apology to Mary was a jest and he honestly had no idea how he could pay them back, it certainly wouldn’t kill him to do something nice for them to show that he was thankful for what they were doing for him.

“Thanks Shermie but for whatever reason, the Whites have insisted that I stay and considering I wrecked their tree, I feel like I owe them,” Stanley joked.

“They really do seem like nice people,” Caryn agreed, a sad note in her voice.

Unwilling to let his mother think she was being replaced, Stanley quickly promised to call her as often as he could.

“Would you two like to stay for lunch?” Mary asked after the last box was moved into Stanley’s room.  “We would love a chance to get to know you.”

And just like that the ice was broken: While Caryn joined Mary and Dan in the kitchen, Shermie stayed in the living room, telling Eleanor, Samantha and David embarrassing stories about Stanley.

“Shermie, I’m begging ya, stop,” Stanley pleaded.

“Oh come on, I think it’s sweet that you adopted a possum,” Eleanor told him, shooting him a sly grin. “A little weird that your pants were its nest but very sweet.”

“Also unsanitary not to mention if it bit you, you would have had to have a rabies shot on whatever body part it bit,” Samantha remarked dryly.

Stanley winced and crossed his legs.

“Thank you, Sammy, for making a funny story uncomfortable,” Eleanor drawled sarcastically.

“Just pointing out the facts.”

  
“And there was the time when Stanley thought it would be a good idea to try to sail the still unfinished Stan-O-War,” Shermie began.

“Hey I was checking to see if the boat could still float,” Stanley protested. After all, there was no point in him and Ford fixing it, if it couldn’t sail. Of course, he might have gotten a little excited and wanted to show off his boat to their classmates but that was besides the point. “I didn’t realize that the wind was so rough that day.”  
  
“What’s the Stan-O-War?” David inquired.

“The Stan-O-War is a shipwrecked sailboat that Stanley and Stanford fixed up all by themselves when they were kids,” Shermie explained, giving Stanley a worried look as though he was afraid that the mere mention of his twin’s name would upset him.

“That’s so cool!” David exclaimed, his eyes lighting up. “Can I see it? Can we go sailing on it?"

“Uh, it’s in New Jersey. At least I think it’s still there,” Stanley began, looking towards Shermie for conformation.  For all he knew Ford had set fire to it or sold it or just took it to the dump.  When his older brother nodded in confirmation, he turned back to David who looked a little disappointed. “But hey if it’s okay with your folks, we can drive down to Glass Shard Beach and I’ll teach you how to sail.”

  
“You really are an awesome brother!” David declared causing Eleanor to let out an aww while Stanley just gave him a fond smile.

“He really is,” Sherman agreed, giving Stanley a one-armed hug. “So you better take good care of him.”

“Okay, you can go back to telling embarrassing childhood stories now,” Stanley said, feeling flustered by the praise.

“I believe you were telling us about a half-finished boat that for some reason Stanley had to test to make sure it could float,” Samantha recalled with a smirk.

“Well oddly, the test run was conducted when his classmates just so happened to be at the beach that day,” Sherman began, giving Stanley a knowing look.

 

* * *

 

 It wasn’t until after dinner, saying goodbye to Ma and Shermie and after it had gotten pretty late, did it occur to Stanley that maybe he could do better than simply take David to New Jersey.

According to Dan, the lake in Dysfunction Junction was pretty big and although it was no ocean, they could still sail on it. Besides it wasn’t like the Stan-O-War was going to be used for anything else and it would just be rotting on the beach so why didn’t he just go to New Jersey and bring the boat back to the Whites.

Dan had showed him and Shermie his boat which was in a shed behind the house and the shed looked big enough for a sailboat as well. All he needed to do was find a way to transport the Stan-O-War to Dysfunction Junction.

His car was sadly out of the question and he didn’t want to make Shermie who had just gotten home to do another five-hour drive. So the alternative was to borrow the Whites’ truck. Mary and Dan had gone to bed early and Stanley didn’t want to wake them up. Hopefully they wouldn’t be too mad at him as he was only borrowing it---and he actually meant borrowing this time.

Trying to be quiet, Stanley snuck into the kitchen and started to go through the drawers of the kitchen for the keys to the truck.

“What may I ask are you doing?"  
  
Stanley nearly yelped in fear. Samantha was standing a few feet behind with a rather annoyed look on her face.

“Geez, someone should put a bell on you. You shouldn’t sneak up on people like that. Nearly gave me a heart attack,” Stanley complained as innocently as possible.

“Oh I apologize, I didn’t mean to scare you as you rooted through our things,” Samantha quipped sarcastically. She crossed her arms over her chest and gave Stanley a nonplussed look. “Would you mind telling me what you were doing before I make my own hypothesis on your intentions?”

_A hypothesis on his intentions? Geez this girl was almost as much of a nerd as Ford._

“I just wanted to use your dad’s truck to run an errand,” Stanley explained.

“Oh? So you were stealing the truck to go on a joyride,” Samantha stated with a raised eyebrow.

“No. I wasn’t gonna steal it perse. I’ll bring it back,” Stanley protested, wondering why he felt so intimidated by a girl who was only slightly taller than him. “I was just borrowing it without your parents’ permission.”

Whatever Samantha was going to say next was interrupted when Eleanor walked into the house using the backdoor.

“Hey, the next time I say I’m gonna sit outside for a while can you come check on me to be sure that I haven’t fallen asleep and if so, wake me up so the neighbor’s dog doesn’t have to. Not that I didn’t enjoy being licked ferociously by that angelic furball but…” Eleanor trailed off after wiping her face with a paper towel and noticing the expressions of both her sister and Stanley. “Oooh boy, what’s going on here?”

“Stanley was just giving me a new definition for stealing,” Samantha quipped.

“I was not stealing. I just need the keys to the truck,” Stanley explained.

“Oh. They are over here with the keys to the minivan, the shed keys and extra house keys,” Eleanor told him, walking over to a bowl on a counter near the back door. She picked up the keys in question and twirled them around her finger.

“See, Eleanor doesn’t think I’m stealing,” Stanley pointed out, only to get an urge to run behind her when her sister glared at him.

“Well she didn’t find you looting through the same drawer Mom keeps her checkbook in,” Samantha told him, albeit not in way that sounded as though she was accusing him of something much more serious than simple taking a car on a joyride. Stanley sheepishly closed the drawer in question. “Secondly, I would still like to know what you intend to with our truck.”

“Obviously, he’s planning on going to New Jersey to get the Stan-O-War,” Eleanor responded, causing both Stan and Samantha to look at her in surprise. “What? The minute you told David that you would take him sailing someday, I figured you’d either ask your brother to bring your boat up here or you’d go get it yourself. I mean I didn’t think you’d drive all the way to New Jersey tonight. But hey, I’m up for a midnight road trip if you are.”

“I thought it would be a nice surprise for your brother,” Stanley admitted bashfully, hoping that Samantha would let him to take the truck after knowing about his altruistic motives especially if her sister was tagging along.

“All right, fine. But I’m not letting someone who doesn’t know that boats can float drive,” Samantha said firmly. “I’ll get an extra tarp from the shed in case it rains.”

She left before Stanley could retort.

“So how grateful are you that that AJ woke me up?” Eleanor asked smiling knowingly.

“Extremely grateful.”  
  
“Sammy’s bedroom wall is on the other side of the kitchen’s wall and she’s a night owl so if you ever want to do something without her knowing, make sure you know what you are looking for, open the fridge door to make it look like you are getting something to eat and then sneak out through your bedroom window,” Eleanor explained. 

Stanley’s eyebrow rose, he had not assumed that Eleanor was the type to sneak out.

“I take it that this is not your first rodeo,” Stanley remarked.

“BABBA had just released a new album and I wanted to be the first person in line to get it I also kind of wanted to try the whole camping out in front of a store thing,” Ellie admitted as she jotted something down on a nearby notepad. “I know that’s a lame reason to break curfew.”

“Hey, bottom line is you snuck out and stayed out all night. Tame teenage rebellion is still teenage rebellion,” Stanley told her before noticing that she was writing a note to her parents telling them that she Sammy and Stan were going on a midnight road trip to New Jersey and they’d be back as soon as they could. “Even if you are telling on us by writing a note.”

“I will have you know that I’m covering our bases. Mom will be less mad if she wakes up and finds us gone and we have left a note. And if we get back before she wakes up, we can throw the note out and lie our butts off,” Eleanor informed him smugly before realizing: “Of course when she sees the boat, she’s gonna know something’s up and while I manipulated Sammy into being our accomplice for our road trip, I doubt she will go along with lying to Mom and Dad. So yeah, the note will make Mom less mad and that’s really all we can hope for.”

“If you say so,” Stanley said doubtfully, wondering if he would have been better of waiting for the Whites to wake up so he could ask for permission.

* * *

  
Two hours and forty-five minutes later, Stanley, Samantha and Eleanor had arrived in New Jersey.  
  
Although Sherman had assured him that the Stan-O-War was still intact, Stanley still could not help but let out a sigh of relief when he saw that his sailboat was right where he left.

Unfortunately the relief turned into frustration when it soon became apparent that even with the three of them, they could not carry the sailboat all the way to the truck as it was too heavy.

“How the hell were you planning on getting it to the truck by yourself?” Samantha demanded.

 “Is it my fault that I didn’t think it through?” Stanley asked as they pushed the boat up the sandy hill towards where the truck was.

 “Yes it is, actually,” Eleanor replied as if she was unaware of what a rhetorical question was. “You better pray that it actually fits in the back of the truck. Because if my second midnight adventure ends as disappointing as my first, I’m not gonna be happy.” She grumbled under her breath something about a stupid music store being closed for the holidays.

Thankfully it did fit in the back of the truck and they actually managed to lift it off the ground and into the truck but Stanley barely had any time to celebrate and catch his breath because he heard someone shouting on the beach.

“HEY! What do you think you’re doing! You can’t take that! That’s my boat!”  
  
“I just can’t catch a break, can I?” Stanley muttered, wondering why Ford had chosen tonight of all nights to break curfew. Eleanor’s only response was to shoot him a sympathetic look.

“Who is he?” Samantha asked. It was either too dark or Ford was too far away for her to make out his features.

“Stanley’s twin brother, Stanford,” Ellie hissed just as the footsteps got closer.

"Ah. Well this can't be good," Samantha stated in a matter of fact tone of voice.

“Who are you people and why are you stealing my boat?” Ford demanded.

_His boat! He had abandoned the Stan-O-War which meant that he had no right to call it his._

“I’m not stealing anything because it’s not your boat, it’s _my_ boat,” Stanley snapped as he whirled around to face the twin he hadn’t seen in months.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cliffhanger. Fight between Ford and Stanley in the next chapter..  
> Eleanor is basically one of those girls who will sneak out for the sake of sneaking out. She won't do anything extremely dangerous (she went with a friend to stay all night outside that closed store) but she will do something especially if she can get away with fooling her all-knowing older sister.  
> Samantha believe it or not actually is warming up to Stanley and her tagging along had nothing to do with Eleanor even though she realizes that she has to keep an eye on both of them.  
> That confrontation between Mary and Filbrick will take some time but I promise you I have already plotted it out. Also there have been hints to her backstory if anyone is interested.  
> I have not fleshed out Dan and David that much mostly because Dan is pretty easygoing and wears his emotions on his sleeve. David will be getting some more fleshing out soon.


	4. Confrontations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ford and Stanley face off and make their grievances about each other known.

Ford had found that sleeping without the sound of snoring was rather difficult in the past few months since his brother left home or rather since he was kicked out. Now that Stanley’s stuff was gone, the bedroom they had once shared felt even emptier and it was not helping him fall asleep.

 

After a few hours of constantly tossing and turning restlessly on the top bunk, Ford decided that maybe a walk outside would tire him out and fresh air would clear his head. He had never snuck out before---that was more Stanley’s style--- but he knew all of his brother’s tricks by heart and he was able to leave undetected by his slumbering mother and father.

 

It was almost like his feet had a mind of their own and they carried him down to the beach where he and Stanley had spent most of their childhood.

 

However, when he arrived at the beach, he spotted three figures in the dark pushing something big up a sandy hill before they put it on the back of their truck. One glance at the empty spot where the Stan-O-War used to be confirmed Ford’s suspicions and he raced towards the three figures before he could really think about what he was doing, determined not to lose the remaining part of his childhood.

 

“HEY! What do you think you’re doing! You can’t take that! That’s my boat!” Ford shouted as he got closer to them and could make out their features in the dim light of the street lamp.  It was three teenagers, two female and one male. “Who are you people and why are you stealing my boat?”

 

“I’m not stealing anything because it’s not your boat, it’s _my_ boat.”

 

It had been months since the two bothers had seen each other face to face; since Ford had closed the curtains, leaving Stan alone on the street. 

 

There was a lot of things Ford could have said---wanted to say but for right now, he focused on only one thing. 

 

“I worked on the Stan-o-war as much as you did and therefore it’s my boat. It means as much to me as it does you,” Ford protested, angry at that even now Stanley continued to be selfish.

 

“So what? It’s not like you are planning to use it,” Stanley snapped, as he crossed his arms over his chest, giving his brother a pointed glare. 

 

“Are you?” Ford countered.

 

“Actually I am gonna use it,” Stanley replied, a smirk on his face. “You see my new little brother wanted to sail on the Stan-o-war and much like Shermie when he gave me my car, I thought I’d be a good big brother and instead of letting _my_ sailboat to go waste, I’d bring it to him instead.”  
  
  
“Your little brother?” the oldest of the two girls repeated incredulously. The younger one---her sister perhaps---elbowed her before whispering furiously something in her ear.

 

Ford ignored them both, focusing on his brother.

 

“Well I’m glad you found someone else to suffocate,” Ford sneered, furious by the implication that he was not a good big brother. Not to mention, it hurt that Stanley seemed to be eager to replace him.

 

His twin’s face fell briefly before it scrunched up in anger.

 

“Suffocating you? How the hell did I suffocate you?” Stan demanded.

 

“It never occurred to you that I might want to do something other than treasure hunting. That I might want to be my own person without worrying how you’d feel about it or how it would affect you. I had so much potential but because you couldn’t stand the idea of me doing my own thing, you just went and ruined my life by sabotaging my project,” Ford shouted, rather relived to be getting this off his chest.

 

“It was an accident, Ford!” Stanley screamed. “And let me tell you something. I spent my entire life putting up with being called the dumb and useless twin, being your bodyguard, standing in your shadow. It’s funny how Pa said I held you back because I’m starting to think you held me back. I never wanted to try because you were always better than me at everything. I barely had any social life because I spent too much time, protecting you from bullies and being your emotional crutch whenever you felt bad about yourself. And this is the thanks I get. Being called suffocating and accused of ruining your dreams because I made a mistake.”  
  
  
“You’re not taking the Stan-o-war,” was all Ford could think of saying to that. He didn’t want to admit that while he had a point so did Stanley. Right now, all he wanted was to stop his brother from taking ~~their~~ his sailboat.

 

“Yes I am,” Stanley replied, before shoving Ford hard enough to make him almost lose his balance.  “I’d like to see you stop me.”

  
  
 “Dammitt, Stanley, why do you never think about anyone else but yourself?” Ford snapped, trying hard not to lose his temper. He did not want to get into a physical fight with his brother. 

 

“I am thinking---” Stanley began but before he could finish that sentence he was interrupted.  
  
  
“Are you kidding me with this!” the sixteen-year-old demanded, storming up to Ford, glaring daggers at him, her lips curled up in a sneer. “Before my mom called you, did you know where your brother was? Did you even care that he was living in his car with barely any money to survive? For all you knew he could have ended up falling down a ditch, smashing his head against a rock and died instantly. But then again, what else can I expect from a self-righteous arrogant jacka---”

  
  
“Eleanor!” the nineteen-year-old placed a hand on her sister’s shoulder, squeezing it gently before turning towards Ford, speaking in a clipped tone. “You can call the police on us, have us arrested for stealing your property---”

 

“It’s not his!” Stan exclaimed, only to shut up when the older girl threw him a dirty look. 

 

“You both found it and worked on it so it does belong to both of you,” she explained before turning back to Ford. “Of course in court, they would probably rule in Stan’s favor as you were planning on abandoning it. However, that wasn’t my point. We did not drive all the way here just to go back home empty handed. So either you can call the police on us, drag more people into your little spat with your brother, or you can do the mature thing and walk away. If you wish, you can come to our town and use the boat in our lake. What will it be?”  
  
  
“Fine. Just take good care of her,” Ford said with a sigh, turning away so he didn’t see his twin’s expression as he walked away.

 

Ford’s thoughts raced as he walked back home. Honestly it wasn’t Stanley’s words that had shaken up him but the younger of the two sisters had made a valid point that if her mother hadn’t called the Pines household, they would never haver found out where Stan was.

 

What if that call had been a doctor or a police officer instead, calling to inform them that Stanley had died? It was easy to convince himself that Stanley would be fine on his own but he could imagine the devastation, the guilt, he would have felt if he ever learned that his twin was dead.

 

The worst part was how outraged the dirty blonde-haired girl looked when she was yelling at Ford. She barely had known Stanley for, what, two months and there were tears in her eyes when she described what could have happened to him.

 

Stanley obviously cared enough about her brother if he was making a five-hour drive in the middle of the night just to give him a sailboat. And why wouldn’t he? After being kicked out, this family had obviously accepted him instantly, opening their home, giving him shelter unconditionally. They cared about his well-being, something Ford hadn’t thought about until it was pointed out to him.

 

Feeling guilty, Ford raced back to the beach, wanting to at least apologize for letting Pa kick Stanley out and for making a big deal out of him taking the Stan-O-War that they both knew Ford would not be using even if he wasn’t quite ready to believe that the whole ruining the science project was an accident.

 

Unfortunately by the time he got back to the beach, the truck and the three teenagers in it were already gone.

* * *

 

Eleanor was crying. She was trying to hide it but Stanley and Samantha could hear her sniffles over the radio.

 

Samantha took her hand off the steering wheel reached across Stan and squeezed her sister’s hand before turning the music off. 

 

“Did you find us suffocating?” Ellie asked in a quiet voice.

 

“Of course I did and I made sure you knew it,” Samantha replied bluntly, keeping her eyes on the road. “Ellie, you said it, yourself, you can be clingy. But just because I didn’t want to stick to your plan, doesn’t mean I was planning on leaving you forever.”

 

Stanley sank back into his seat, feeling like he was intruding on a private conversation. Luckily(?), despite him being in the middle of the two sisters, they both carried on the conversation like he wasn’t even there.  
  
  
“I know. I just keep thinking maybe it was my fault. If I hadn’t been so pushy, she wouldn’t have left,” Eleanor said softly.

 

“She always wanted to leave town,” Samantha pointed out. “She and Amelia thought two underaged girls could make it as actresses by themselves. If anything, your plan was more realistic.”

 

This actually caused Eleanor to laugh in spite of herself.  “That’s why I needed you. Tess and I spent too much time fantasying with our heads in the clouds. Your blunt logic and absolute need to be a buzzkill would have kept us from doing something stupid,” she remarked, a sad smile on her face.  “I mean remember when Rosa and I sunk out to camp outside the music store. You were in the car the whole night, watching over us, making sure we didn’t get hurt.”  
  
  
“I still can’t believe you actually thought you tricked me,” Samantha muttered.

 

“We beat you there. There is no way it would have taken you that long to get there unless I had you fooled for at least ten minutes,” Eleanor protested. She then turned to face Stanley, looking serious again. “I’m sorry I yelled at your brother.”

 

“It’s okay. I was yelling at him too,” Stanley told her. A part of him wanted to ask if there had been a point in her speech where she was actually talking about Tess but the last thing he wanted to do was make her cry again. “So uh, Sammy---”  
  
  
“Do not call me Sammy. I can barely tolerate my family calling me Sammy and that’s mostly because asking them to stop only makes them call me Sammy more frequently,” Samantha said sternly.

 

“Don’t listen to Sammy, Stan, she loves being called Sammy. Sammy just pretends not to like being called Sammy,” Ellie teased, wiping her wet eyes that were now dancing mischievously.

 

Samantha rolled her eyes but strangely she looked satisfied. Stanley got the feeling that David was not the only one who was good at distracting his sisters from being either sad or angry.

 

“Right. So were you bluffing about the whole court thing or are you planning on being a lawyer?” he asked.

 

Samantha was silent for a few moments and Stanley wondered if simply asking if what she wanted to be was too personal.

 

“I was expecting you to follow that with some sort of crack about how hot woman lawyers were,” Samantha remarked, sounding genuinely surprised.

 

“I make dumb jokes but I’m not sexist,” Stanley said in a mock-outraged voice. 

 

“To answer your question, Stanley, Sammy just likes to learn everything. She doesn’t want to be a physiatrist but she still took a psych class in her first year of college. She doesn’t want to be a mechanic or a cook and yet she had Mom teach her how to cook and she asked our mechanic how to teach her how to fix a car,” Eleanor replied before frowning darkly. “Oh by the way, he’s sexist.” 

 

“To be fair I was only thirteen and his willingness to teach me was not helped by the fact that my ten-year-old sister yelled at him and throwing her book at him,” Samantha pointed out.

 

“He was being condescending, I lost my temper and I didn’t think it would hit him,” Eleanor defended herself.

 

“If you want you can help me fix my car. I could use a second hand,” Stanley offered. Judging from the fact that the mechanic clearly thought he knew how to fix Stanley’s precious car better than Stanley did, the guy was might not be sexist but he was clearly a condescending jerk who could make the nicest of girls lose their tempers and it made Stan glad that he had chosen to fix the car himself.

 

“Are you just trying to get me do the work for you?” Samantha asked suspiciously.

 

“Sammy!” Ellie admonished her. “I heard him refer to that car as his baby. Something tells me that the fact that he’s willing to let you touch it is a big deal.”

  
  
“Her,” Stanley corrected. “Not it. Her.” 

 

“See!”

 

“Fine. I’ll help you fix it,” Samantha said with a hint of gratitude in her otherwise stoic tone.

 

“She’s warming up to me. I can feel it,” Stan stage-whispered.

 

“It takes time but eventually you’ll make her heart grow three times as big,” Ellie joked. Samantha let out a sigh but Stanley could have sworn he saw a ghost of a smile on her face.

* * *

 

They arrived back at the White house when the sky was still dark enough that it seemed like they had made it home without the remaining occupants waking up.

 

The minute they stepped in, they came face to face with Mary White who was wearing her nightgown with a robe over it. Although she said nothing, she looked as though she wanted to skin them alive.

 

“Didn’t you get our note?” Eleanor asked weakly, either hoping to diffuse the tension or make her mother a little less angry.  

 

Either way, Mary’s furious expression did not change.

 

“Living room now!” she hissed.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First all, I want to make it clear that Stanley in no way resents Ford and is only just hurt and angry obviously. Honestly, I really do think that Stanley and Ford biggest failing was their inability to communicate probably.  
> You'll notice that I made some parallels between Samantha and Eleanor with Stan and Ford. One of the biggest differences is they grew up in an environment where their parents would make them talk things out.  
> I want to know what your thoughts on the character's relationship is with each other and your thoughts on the backstory I've revealed for Tess. Can you guess Amealia's part in what happened?  
> Next chapter, we have Stanley bounding with each of the Whites (after all three teens are thoroughly yelled at for sneaking out).  
> I really hope you guys like my ocs.


	5. Good or Bad Influence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After their midnight drive, the three teenagers receive their punishment. Stanley learns more about this family and the deceased Tess. He has begins to wonder about the fight he and Ford had.

Despite visibly seething, Mary said nothing as the three teenagers went into the living room where Dan, fully dressed, was waiting for them. She said nothing as Dan asked them to explain where they were and why they left, waiting for them to tell the full story—including the confrontation with Ford---before she spoke.

 

“Let me make something perfectly clear, you will not do this ever again. All three of you live under my roof which means I will not have anyone sneaking out of the house, driving out of state let alone to New Jersey in the middle of the night ever again. What would have happened if you crashed in a secluded area with no payphones around?” Mary ranted, clearly not expecting or wanting anyone to answer her question. She turned her sharp eyes on her oldest daughter, directing her next words to her before continuing to address all three of them. “I don’t care how old you are, Samantha, that does not mean that you are in any less trouble than Eleanor and Stanley. For the next two months, the three of you will be working in my restaurant. Now go get some sleep before your shift starts.”

 

She did not give them a chance to process her speech. Instead she abruptly stalked out of the living room like an tigress before they even had a chance to either protest or respond.

 

Dan, who had been sitting in an armchair while his wife chewed the three teenagers out, got up.

 

“Believe it or not she is actually going easy on you. Before she found out why you took the car, she was planning on simply grounding all three of you for a year,” he remarked “Stanley, do you mind if I take your boat to the shed?”

 

“Uh, don’t worry about it. I can do it,” Stanley told him, trying to stifle a yawn.

 

“It’s no trouble at all. Besides I think you three better go get some rest. Mary wasn’t kidding when she said you’d have a shift today and I doubt it will be a light one,” Dan explained. 

 

“So just to be clear, the note did not help at all,” Eleanor guessed.

 

“No, sweetie, it didn’t,” Dan replied, his tone was soft with a stern undertone. “Your mother and I were worried something might happen to you and if something had happened, a note would not have made things better.”

* * *

 

Now feeling guilty, the three teenagers went to their bedrooms to catch a few hours of sleep.

 

Stanley couldn’t fall asleep, still thinking about the argument with Ford. The word suffocating just repeated over and over as he tried to think back, wondering if Ford had started not wanting to make their dream a reality long before West Coast Tech had entered the equation.

 

How long had Ford wanted to get away from him? How long had he seen his twin as suffocating? When had it gone from it will be the two of them forever to Ford wanting nothing to do with him?

  
  
  
“Stanley?” Ellie whispered as she opened the door, either being quiet in case he was asleep or because she didn’t want to alert her mother who would no doubt be even angrier if she found her daughter sneaking into Stanley’s room. When he sat up, she went and sat on the edge of the bed. “I’m sorry if I woke you. I couldn’t sleep and I feel like I was being selfish back in the car when you just had a fight with your brother. I just wanted to let you know that I’m up for listening if you want to vent.”

 

“It’s fine. Honestly, I’m not up for sleeping or talking,” Stanley told her. “But I don’t think you were being selfish. Clearly something about this situation reminded you of your sister.”  He could have kicked himself when he saw the slight flinch. He had not meant to bring up such a touchy subject and inwardly cursed his big mouth.

 

“I’m not up for sleeping either. You up for listening?” Ellie inquired, sounding hopeful as though she wanted to get this off her chest.

“Sure.”  
  
  
“Well my sisters and I might have a bit of an age gap but we were always close.  However as Tess and Sammy grew older, they began to change and want to do things without me. Tess especially wanted to get of this town, feeling it was too small for a growing star like her,” Ellie laughed, a sad smile on her face. “She wanted to be a singer. I would write songs for her and Sammy would be our manager plus agent. But Tess didn’t want to wait until we had finished our education. She wanted to go Hollywood straight away. So one day in January, Tess came home all excited because there was this big audition in another town. She and Amelia were going to take a bus to try out. My mom said no as the audition was the same day school started again. They got into a really big fight and Tess went up to her room and that was the last time we saw her. I went in her room to sneak her some desert and I found the lights off, pillows arranged in the shape of a body and her drawers empty. We searched for her all night and we found her. She had slipped on some ice and fell into ditch, hitting her head on the way down.”

 

“Geez, I’m so sorry,” Stanley said, unsure what to do or what to say to that.

 

“The worst part is Amelia, her best friend, was with her. They had decided to run away together,” Eleanor muttered, now staring out the window with a grimace. “If my best friend had fallen and hit her head, I would have gone and gotten help. I would not have just ran home and then hours later told her frantic family that I hadn’t seen her. How callous can you be to act like nothing was wrong when for all you know she could be dead!” 

 

With that last word, Eleanor buried her face in Stanley’s chest, barely aware of her own actions. Despite feeling awkward, Stanley wrapped his arms around her, hugging her.

 

“Sorry,” Ellie apologized bashfully as they separated.

 

“Don’t be. I asked. Are you okay?” Stanley inquired worriedly.

 

“I will be. I just needed to get that off my chest. I’ve been trying so hard to be more like Samantha and hold everything together that I just couldn’t stop myself,” Eleanor explained.

 

“Hey, if you ever need to vent, I’m here to listen,” Stanley assured her.

 

“Right back at you,” Eleanor told him, wiping her wet eyes. “Well I better go back to my room before Mother finds us and once again assumes the worst.”  
  
  
“To be fair, I’m not the one sneaking in a boy’s room,” Stanley joked, causing Eleanor to give him a playful glare.

 

“You’re not that cute,” she countered, giggling as Stanley mimed being hurt before getting up and walking out of Stanley’s room, thankfully not bumping into Mary.

 

Stanley sighed as he slumped back against his pillow. What a night. He hadn’t felt this emotionally drained since the first night after he was kicked out.

 

He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, dreaming of sailing on the Stan-O-War, all alone. Suddenly a storm hit and Stanley was thrown overboard and as he tried to keep his head above the water, he heard voices in his ear.

 

_Suffocating._

_Screw-up._

_Clown._

 

_You ruined my future._

_You ruined everything._

Just as he fell underneath the waves, he was woken up by someone jumping on top of him.

 

Stanley shot upwards, nearly knocking the boy off his bed, not that he cared. David was grinning at him and hugged him.

 

“Thank you. Thank you so much. Can we sail today!” David begged.

 

“David White, what are you doing!” Mary demanded as she appeared in the doorway. “Apologize to Stanley for waking him up right now.”

 

“Sorry Stan, I just got so excited when I saw your boat. And Dad said we could go fishing tomorrow morning but I want to sail on it today,” David chattered animatedly, bouncing up and down on the bed.

 

“David,” Mary warned sternly, annoyed that he was still bothering Stanley who still seemed half-awake.  
  
  
“Sorry, kid, but I’ve got a shift at your mom’s restaurant,” Stanley explained as he stretched and yawned, glancing at his clock, wondering how long he had managed to sleep for.  The clock said eleven so at least a few hours. 

 

“Actually I reconsidered that. There are only a few weeks left of summer so you’ll start working in a few days,” Mary informed him before quickly adding. “However, today, Stanley, we have to go get your eyes examined so we make sure we get you glasses.” After receiving Stanley’s medical files, the town doctor had informed Mary and Dan of his poor eyesight. Mary had not been happy to learn that the Pines parents had known but not gotten him glasses because his eyesight was slightly better than Fords so why bother paying for both.  
  
  
Both David and Stanley groaned but neither argued. David gave the older boy another hug before running downstairs.

 

“Here, you missed breakfast so I brought you some toast,” Mary told him as she placed some buttered toast wrapped in a napkin on the side table next to Stanley’s bed. “Lunch will be in two hours so I thought this would sustain until then.”  
  
“Thanks and look, I wanted to apologize for dragging your daughters for my midnight joy ride,” Stanley said, trying to play it off as a joke.

 

Mary gave him a hard look. “Unless you forced them in the car at gunpoint, they share the equal blame,” she remarked. “I am not happy about this, Stanley but your heart was in the right place. I’m just sorry I ruined your surprise for David. He overheard me talking to Dan about your midnight trip and well he immediately went looking before running upstairs to wake you.”

“Hey I’m glad he liked it,” Stanley laughed, feeling pleased he had made someone happy.

 

“I have never seen him happier,” Mary replied, a ghost of a smile tugging at her lips. “We’re lucky to have you here.”  
  
  
Stanley blinked at her in confusion but Mary didn’t elaborate. Instead she turned and walked out of the bedroom, closing the door behind her.

 

His mind drifted back to what Eleanor told him just hours before and he found himself wondering if she and her family saw him as a chance to fill the empty spot Tess had left behind.

 

In a weird way it was nice because it meant someone wanted him.

* * *

 

“The eyeglasses look nice,” Dan complimented Stanley when he and Mary returned home. “You look very distinguished.”

“Thank you, sir. I thought they looked a like dorky but I guess I’m just not used to wearing them,” Stan replied, not glancing at the mirror next to him as he adjusted them. He was half-afraid he’d see Ford staring back instead of his reflection.  

 

“Hey Mom, Rosa invited me to hang out at the ice cream shop, am I allowed to go?” Eleanor asked as she walked downstairs.

 

“What did your father say?” Mary inquired.

 

“What every sitcom father says: ask your mother,” Eleanor replied with a chuckle.

 

Mary shook her head in exasperation. “Dan, we work as a team. If you want to allow our daughter to go out with her friends, you may.”  
  
  
“Mary, you are the love of my life. We might be a team but we both know that if I were to make a decision without your input, you would sulk,” Dan told her, an amused expression his face.

 

“I don’t sulk,” Mary protested.

 

“Oh Mom, you sulk,” Eleanor contradicted.

 

“Do you want to hang out with Rosa or not?” Mary asked with her eyes narrowed at her daughter. Eleanor mimed zipping her lips. “If your father says you can go, then you can go.”

 

“Well considering your mother doesn’t have a problem with it, you can go,” Dan said. He smirked when he saw his wife’s sour face. “There it is: the sulk.”

  
“Oh that’s it. I’m done with the both of you,” Mary declared, rolling her eyes as she walked away with Dan trailing after her, teasing her lightly.

 

“Hey Stan, Rosa just got back to town and I’m sure she’d love to meet you. So would you like to come with me?” Eleanor offered, still grinning. “You can show off how distinguished you look in those very fetching glasses.”  
  
  
“Aw, thank you. But while I’m flattered that you want to use me as arm candy, I am afraid I have plans with your sister,” Stanley reminded her. 

 

Before he and Mary had gone to get glasses, Samantha and Stanley had agreed to work on finishing the repairs to EL Diablo.

 

“Uh Stanley, when you and Mom arrived home, did you guys not notice a pair of legs sticking out from under your car?” Eleanor asked, looking as though she was trying hard not to laugh.

 

Stanley’s eyes widened in horror as he hightailed it to the garage.  Sure enough, a grease stained Samantha was just getting out from under it.

 

“When is the last time you changed your oil?” Samantha asked, as she whipped her hands on a rag.

 

“I don’t know. I thought the mechanic would have done it,” Stanley replied, torn between being angry or grateful.

 

“Not unless you were gonna pay him,” Samantha pointed out. “Look I just wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything else wrong with your car. I called Mr. Barker and he said that while he was checking it out, he noticed that your oil hadn’t been changed in months so I thought I’d do it for you.”  
  
  
“Well next time wait for me to come back,” Stanley snapped, feeling a bit possessive and annoyed that his baby had been touched without his permission.

 

“I think the word you were looking for was thank you,” Samantha informed him.

 

“Hey, have you ever changed a car’s oil before or even seen it done?” Stanley asked, annoyed that she thought she deserved a thank you when she could have done something incorrectly and wrecked his car.

 

“No but I read about it thoroughly,” Samantha answered.

 

“Well there is a difference between reading and doing,” Stanley snapped as he laid down pushed himself under the car, using the discarded flashlight to inspect her work.

 

“I thought I was doing you a favor,” Samantha grumbled. “Like you did for David.”  
  
  
Stanley couldn’t help but grin as he pushed himself back out. “So in other words: you wanted to do something nice for me,” he remarked.

 

“Look all I know is when I came back from college, everyone was a mess. Months passed, it got a little bit better but things were still tense. Then one day, you showed up and it’s almost like everything has gone back to the way it was,” Samantha explained, giving Stanley a fierce glare. “You are still not allowed to call me Sammy.”

 

“Understood, Sam,” Stanley replied, still grinning as he went back under. Almost ten minutes later, he got out from under the car and stood up. “You did an okay job for someone who only read how to change the oil.”  
  
  
“This might shock you but many people learn how to do things from reading books,” Samantha told him coolly.

 

“And how do you think the people who wrote those books learned how to do it?” Stanley asked with a smirk.

 

“Wow, that was actually a good point,” Samantha said, sounding far too surprised for Stan’s liking.

  
"I happen to be smarter than most people give me credit for," Stanley defended himself, thinking specifically about how he had even surprised himself by doing so well on Dan's practice test. He didn't even give himself credit. 

 

_And let me tell you something. I spent my entire life putting up with being called the dumb and useless twin, being your bodyguard, standing in your shadow. It’s funny how Pa said I held you back because I’m starting to think you held me back. I never wanted to try because you were always better than me at everything. I barely had any social life because I spent too much time, protecting you from bullies and being your emotional crutch whenever you felt bad about yourself._

 

Maybe Ford had the right idea. Maybe it was better that they were apart. Away from people who knew them and compared them. This way they could be their own people.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very short chapter and I apologize for that. Next chapter will skip to the start of school. I was going to write the fishing scene but I just couldn't think of anything good aside from Stanley making comparisons between Dan and David to his relationship with his father. I will have a scene like that but I just couldn't make it work for this chapter.  
> Again I ask for feedback on my OCs. Tell me what you think about them and their backstory.


	6. Flourish or Flounder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stan deals with a new bully while Ford has to suffer through their old ones.

School would never be Stanley’s favorite place but he had to admit that walking into a classroom without the teachers glaring at him was rather nice change of pace. If any of the teachers were aware about his troublemaking history, none of them seemed to hold it against him, treating him no differently than any other students.

 

Speaking of his new classmates, Stanley wasn’t sure what rumors had been going around but judging from the whispers that seemed to stop when he passed and the fact that some were almost jumpy whenever he passed them, he guessed the rumors involved something dangerous.  

  
Considering Eleanor was the only one he knew in the school besides Dan, he decided to ask her during lunch.

 

“So what am I? A juvenile delinquent? In a biker gang? Escaped convict? Ruggedly handsome rogue come to corrupt the innocent teenagers of this small town?” Stanley asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

 

Eleanor almost choked on her drink when he said that last one.  “All of us or just the ones you like?” she inquired rhetorically, with a mischievous smile. “Honestly I don’t listen to gossip. But Rosa might know. I wonder where she is. I know she has lunch with us.”  
  
  
“Maybe she’s not hungry,” Stanley guessed. He had meet Rosa García just a few weeks before school started. She, her parents and her siblings were the only Latinos in town, something she wore with pride. When Stanley made the mistake of mixing up Colombia and Mexico, she spent the next thirty minutes explaining the difference between the two countries. It was actually quite informative.

 

“There she---uh-oh,” Eleanor said, frowning worriedly as she took in her best friend’s appearance as the Latina made her way over to them, looking as though she might cry.

 

Seeing her expression, Stanley immediately got out of his chair so she could sit down next to Eleanor.

 

“Gracias but I’m not staying. I’ve been suspended,” Rosa explained, wiping her face with her hand.

 

“It’s the first day of school not even I…” Stanley trailed off when both girls gave him an annoyed look. “Sorry I was trying to lighten the mood.”  
  
“Rosa, que pasó?” Eleanor asked, taking her friend’s hand in hers and giving it a light squeeze.

 

“Hey Ellie, let the psycho Spic go back to Mexico where it belongs,” someone shouted from across the courtyard, unknowingly giving both Eleanor and Stanley a pretty good guess of what happened.

 

“Would you like to come over here and say that?” Stanley growled, spinning around so he could glare at the racist was holding an ice pack on his eye. Clearly Rosa had already punched him but he hadn’t learned his lesson in not being an asshole something Stanley was itching to rectify.

 

“This doesn’t concern you, Mr. Charity Case,” the teenager sneered, his lip curling in disgust.

 

“Wow, you are really creative with your insults, aren’t you?” Stanley said sarcastically.

 

“Ignore Justin, Stanley, he is just a malparido,” Eleanor swore, getting up and grabbing Stanley’s arm, pulling both him and Rosa away from the lunch area.

 

“You do realize I’m going to be in even more trouble if Papá and Mamá find out I taught you that word,” Rosa said, although her tone was less accusatory and more amused.

 

“Oh please that moron failed Spanish twice and keeps pronouncing Hola as holela,” Ellie said derisively, sniffing haughtily.

 

“I don’t know why you didn’t let me hit him. If there is one thing I’m good at, it’s hitting bullies,” Stanley muttered, cracking his knuckles as he remembered the bullies who often picked on Ford, acting as though him having six fingers gave them an excuse to be so nasty.  
  
  
It suddenly occurred to him that he had no idea if Ford was still being picked on. He needed to make some calls just in case the bullies thought that because Stanley was gone, that meant they could bully Ford without worrying about getting beat up themselves.

 

“That won’t help, Stan, our school is very strict about violence whoever attacks first is the one suspended,” Rosa informed him with a heavy sigh.

 

“Let me guess, his friends collaborated his story that you punched him but they conveniently left out the part where he called you names and slurs,” Eleanor guessed. She didn’t even wait for her best friend to confirm her suspicions. “Go home, Rosa. I’ll talk to my dad, he’ll talk to the principal and you’ll be back at school tomorrow.” 

 

Rosa agreed, hugging Ellie before saying goodbye to Stan. As they watched her leave school grounds, Eleanor turned to Stanley.

 

“I think I know how you can fight him but it involves stealing, vandalism and tricking him into throwing the first punch,” she told him matter of factly.

 

“Girl, now you are speaking my language,” Stanley replied with a grin.

 

 

“We are also gonna have to skip our next class and maybe the one after that,” Eleanor remarked, after some thought.

 

“Huh, maybe you’re the devastatingly beautiful rouge who is corrupting me,” Stan joked.

 

“You wish,” Eleanor countered, giving Stan a playful shove. “Now how good are you at lockpicking?”

* * *

 Apparently the plan involved going into the boys’ locker room. Unfortunately, it had a strong odor of sweat and general stink.

“Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew,” Eleanor muttered over and over under her breath as she held a napkin over her mouth. “School just started today. How the hell does it stink so bad?”

“Teenage boys plus puberty, plus them tossing their stinky socks all over the place,” Stanley replied, as he fiddled with the lock on the locker that was labeled Justin. Finally he managed to disable the padlock. Opening the locker reveled another source of the stink: a moldy ham sandwich. “Yep, that has definitely been here all summer.”

 

“Seriously, I saw him in here this morning. Why wouldn’t he throw it out? Guys just suck,” Eleanor complained, causing Stanley to give her an offended look. She quickly clarified with a sheepish expression. “Obviously not you or Dad or David. That goes without saying.”

 

Using an extra napkin, Stanley grabbed the offending food and threw it into trash before reaching into the locker and sorting through the rest of the junk, looking for what Eleanor assured him was Justin’s prized possession.

 

“Gum, of course a pair of stinky socks, a spray can of paint which I will be keeping, a list of the hottest girls----wow, this guy is just hitting all the clichés.”

 

“Wait, can I see that?” Eleanor requested, curiously. Stanley handed her the paper with a raised eyebrow. The girl just shrugged as she eagerly searched for her names. She then laughed, a wide grin spreading across her face as she began to laugh. “Oh my God, the stars are breasts! Hey I have seven breasts!” 

 

“You sound way too excited about that,” Stan remarked, as he continued his search through the locker.

 

“I should want to kill him for this but honestly, this is just so dumb, it’s impossible not to laugh about it. That being said, it belongs in the same place Justin belongs in,” Eleanor said, before ripping the paper into shreds and tossing them into the trash with a satisfied smirk.

 

“Well put. Here we go. It was under the dirty socks,” Stanley said with a grimace as he pulled out the baseball card. His eyes widened as he examined it. “Oh come on, it’s a rare one. Do we have to deface it? Can’t I just keep it and sell it?”  
  
“It’s a small town, Stanley, if we sell it, we’ll get caught,” Eleanor pointed out. “Besides what’s the big deal? It’s just a card.”  
  
  
“Of the greatest baseball player of all time. Come on, let me keep this” Stanley implored her, giving her the puppy dog eyes. “When your mom drove me to get my glasses, we passed by a pawn shop when we were headed back to town. I’ll make up some excuse about why I have to drive there and we can even split the money.”

 

“First of all, I’m going with you because I don’t know how much that is worth and something tells me you will say it’s worth less than it really is,” Eleanor remarked, chuckling when Stan mimed being offended. “Secondly, you are gonna have to find a good place to hide it just in case they search you.”

 

“Well I can think of one place they will definitely not search,” Stan told her, averting his eyes, not wanting to glance in that area.  

 

“Where?” Eleanor asked, confused.

 

“Your chest,” Stan mumbled, still not looking at her.

 

“I think the worst part is I have more of a problem stuffing a card that was under stinky socks between my breasts then I do stealing a rare baseball card and selling it,” Eleanor said after a seconds of awkward silence passed.

 

She took the card from Stanley and even though he was deliberately keeping his eyes on the fire alarm above the row of lockers, she still turned around to shove the baseball card inside her bra.

 

“At least it’s not the spray paint can we have to hide,” Stan joked as he shoved the can into his backpack before closing the locker and locking it before the two teens made their getaway.

* * *

 

Much to Stanley’s dismay, they had only missed one period of class which they agreed that their cover story would be that they had walked Rosa back home. The rest of the school day passed by uneventfully and they were waiting on the school steps for Justin to find out what they had done. Not even thirty minutes passed after the school bell had rung when the fair-haired teenager came running out of the school, practically foaming at the mouth.  

 

“Hey you!” he shouted after them.

 

“Do you just not know my name?” Stanley asked, leaning against the flag pole casually. “I’m Stanley Pines. Nice ta metcha.” He stuck out his hand as if he was expecting Justin to shake it.

 

“Give me back my card!” Justin shouted.

 

“Card? I think there are stores that have a whole deck of them. Were you looking to play solitaire?” Stan mocked, enjoying the lovely shade of purple the other boy’s face was turning.

 

“Look I know you think you are all that because you are part of a motorcycle gang or whatever but I’m a football player and I could crush you,” Justin growled, trying very hard to look menacing. Unfortunately Stan was not just a year-older, he was also nearly a foot taller, something that the other boy noticed when Stan stopped slouching.  

 

“I have been boxing since I was a kid. Just try me,” Stan whispered as he stepped forward. He saw the right hook coming from a mile away and sidestepped the fist letting him hit the flagpole. “Well that gotta hurt.”

 

“I’ll kill you!” Justin roared, leaping at Stan, fully prepared to tackle him.

 

Stan decided to go low and hit his stomach, knocking him to the ground.

 

“ENOUGH!” Dan shouted, gripping his can as he hurried down the school steps, with another teacher close behind.

“Mr. White, Stanley broke into my locker, stole my baseball card and then hit me,” Justin lied…well half-lied.

 

“Ellie, is that what happened?” Dan asked Eleanor who had been watching the whole thing.

 

“Nope, Justin tried to hit Stan and when he hit the flagpole instead, he tried to tackle him,” Eleanor explained, biting her lip to conceal her smile.

 

Dan’s eyes narrowed slightly before turning his companion.

 

“Ron, would you mind taking Justin to the principal’s office where he can explain how he managed to get into two fights on his first day of school,” Dan suggested calmly. He waited until his co-worker had marched a protesting Justice back inside before rounding on the other two teenagers. “Hand the card over,” he demanded, his tone broached no argument as he extended his hand out.

 

Eleanor meekly pulled it of her shirt and placed the card on her father’s palm. Dan blinked in surprise but said nothing else as he slipped the baseball card in his pocket and walked back towards the school.

 

“Are we in trouble?” Stan asked, surprised they didn’t get yelled at. After all, the baseball card in their possession did prove that they had broken into school property and stolen something.

 

“Well if he tells Mom, we’ll probably have extra shifts at the restraint but if not, I’m guessing he’ll slip the card back into Justin’s locker and pretend he knows nothing,” Eleanor explained. “Hey as long as Justin is suspended, I don’t care. Come on, I’ll bet you anything that Rosa is blowing off steam at the arcade. Shall we blow off our homework and enjoying some mindless entertainment?”  
  
“Okay but if anyone asks, it was your idea,” Stanley laughed as they walked down the street.

 

“Hey, do you guys need a ride?” someone called from a nearby car.

“No we’re good,” Stanley said, slightly startled by the offer from some random teenager.

 

“I think you just became the new top dog,” Eleanor said with a grin.

 

“Seriously? Do you think anyone would be willing to do my homework?” Stan asked hopefully.

 

“Stanley, braver kids than you have tried and they have never been able to slip by one teacher. And unfortunately for you, you happen to live with that teacher,” Eleanor replied, giving him a sympathetic look as she linked arms with him. “But hey, you have a fellow procrastinator with you. We’ll wing it.”  
  
  
“Sounds like a plan. Hopefully this one won’t stink as much,” Stan teased her.

 

Eleanor shuddered. “I hope Rosa appreciates what we had to go through to defend her honor.”  
  
  
“Hey, I grow up in a house of four men and I tell ya, the boy’s locker room actually smelled better than Ford and my room,” Stanley remarked fondly. His brow furrowed as he remembered what he had been worrying about earlier. “Uh, does the arcade have a phone? I need to make some calls to make sure Crampelter and his cronies aren’t taking advantage of me not being in New Jersey.”

 

Even though he was still mad at his brother, Stan prayed that Ford might have had a good first day at school---just like he had.

* * *

Little did Stanley knew that Ford’s first day as a senior was in fact one of the worst days of his life.

 

His teachers had kept asking how he could have not impressed the West Coast Tech folks, wondering if he had an off day or perhaps he just was smart compared to the students of his high school. 

 

And then there was Crampelter who was just delighted that Ford was at school and Stanley was nowhere to be found. He and his little gang shoot spitballs at him through a peashooter during class, spray painted his locker with the word freak and took pleasure in "accidentally" tripping or bumping into him.

 

It was ridiculous. He had taken the same boxing lessons Stanley had so he should be able to defend himself. Unfortunately unlike Stanley, he refused to attack anyone unless it was in self-defense. So until they got physically abusive, he would try and pretend that their taunts was not affecting him.

 

By the time, Ford got home, he felt like curling up in a ball and crying. He wanted to be able to do things without Stanley and yet he couldn’t even get through a school day without needing his brother.

 

Ford let out a heavy sigh as he sat at his desk, trying to focus on his homework. He wondered if Stan was having just an awful day like he was.

 

 _“And here I thought you were so smart, Stanford, but I guess next your brother and the rest of these clowns, it’s no surprise.”_  
  
  
_“Hey freak, I hear your brother left town. I guess he got so sick of living with a freak like you.”_

_And let me tell you something. I spent my entire life putting up with being called the dumb and useless twin, being your bodyguard, standing in your shadow. It’s funny how Pa said I held you back because I’m starting to think you held me back. I never wanted to try because you were always better than me at everything. I barely had any social life because I spent too much time, protecting you from bullies and being your emotional crutch whenever you felt bad about yourself.”_

Ford wasn’t sure why he went down to the kitchen, searched through Ma’s phone book and dialed the White’s number. Maybe he needed to know that Stanley had a bad day so he wouldn’t feel so pathetic. Maybe after an emotionally draining day, he needed to talk to the one person he knew, despite everything would always be there for him.

 

“Hi, I’m David White, my mom and dad aren’t here so you should call back later,” a young voice said. There was a pause before he spoke again. “Wait, if you are calling for Sammy, she’s in the garage fixing Stan’s car so I can get her.”

 

“No that’s okay,” Ford assured him, shocked that Stan would let anyone touch his car. “I was looking for Stanley, actually.”

 

“Oh well he’s at the arcade with friends,” David explained.  “I don’t know how long he’s gonna be but I hope he’ll be back soon, I want to show him the picture I drew in art class of him. We’re on the Stan-O-War except it’s renamed----”  
  
  
“David, what are you doing? You know you are not allowed to talk to people on the phone unless you know who they are,” a woman’s voice chided. “Who is this and why are you talking to my son?”

Feeling self-conscious, Ford hung up the phone without another word. As he walked up to his room, he tried to convince himself that he was not jealous that Stan was letting someone touch his car---something he only let Ford do and that was only because he had a concussion and needed someone to drive them home. He was not jealous that apparently Stanley had made friends who he was hanging out with after school not needing to protect or cheer up his twin brother. And he was certainly not jealous that Stanley’s new “brother” had not only gotten their boat but he was also allowed to rename it.

 

Ford wasn’t sure what was worse, the fact that despite trying to be his own person he needed his brother while Stan who had wanted them to stay together apparently was better off without him or the fact that he selfishly wished Stan had a bad day. At least it would have given them a reason to talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just in case anyone is wondering, I decided to make Rosa Colombian just as a mythology gag to Stan's days in Columbia not because she's actually related to the guys he met there.  
> Yeah Ford's feeling pretty sorry for something in this chapter. It will get better.  
> Please don't forget to review and tell me what you think.  
> Also is everyone okay with the ship tease?


	7. Fixable Mistakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another accident nearly costs Stanley the Stanowar but the aftermath might finally undo the mess that was caused by him accidentally breaking Ford's science project.

Six months had passed since Stanley had started living with the Whites. There were some days when it felt like he had only been there a week and he was still getting used to them; there were other times when it felt like he had known them for years.

 

Although their punishment was over by now, Stanley still helped out at the restaurant, claiming that with Rosa and Ellie hanging out there he might as well do so otherwise he might die of boredom.

 

“You know you could do homework,” Rosa pointed out as she and Samantha went over the inventory as Eleanor and Stanley did the dishes.

 

“I could but I like to take my time with my homework,” Stanley told her. “So I won’t have to stress over it later.”

 

“Oooh, I like that excuse. I’m using that one,” Ellie decided.

 

“You two are a match made in heaven,” Samantha deadpanned, rolling her eyes.

 

“What? Just because we both get stressed out with school and find it better to wait until we are relaxed to do homework,” Eleanor said innocently.

 

“You either wait until the morning before school starts or you’ll wait until Dad, me or Rosa have time to help you with it,” Samantha pointed out, nonplussed.

 

“And yet it works for us,” Eleanor remarked with a grin.

  
“And before you get on our case about barely passing, I would like to point out that your mother made me a cake because I got my first A last week,” Stanley reminded, grinning as well. “I mean all I did was pretend math was money and bam: instant A!”

 

“Cake just tastes so much sweeter when you get an A in a class everyone thinks you’ll fail,” Eleanor declared.

 

“Yeah it does!” Stanley exclaimed as they high-fived.

 

“Te garantizo que se casarán dentro de cinco años,” Rosa stage-whispered to Samantha who smirked.

 

“What did she say?” Stanley asked a red-faced Eleanor.

 

“Nothing. They were just being nerd robots,” Eleanor lied, her voice becoming slightly high-pitched.

 

“WHAT!”

 

The teens were interrupted by a shout from Mary’s office and seconds later a frazzled Mary came running out.

 

“Héctor,” she called Rosa’s father. “Tengo que irme temprano. Estás a cargo.” 

 

“Sí, realmente,” the chef replied.

 

“Gracias,” Mary said to him before turning to the teenagers. “We have to go home. One of the neighbors saw smoke coming from the boat shed.” 

 

Before Mary could say anything else, Stanley had already taken off running, terrified that after his childhood dream had crashed and burned, that the physical manifestation of his childhood was now burning to the ground.

 

He did not stop running until he had arrived at the White house where there was already a fire truck. If there was a fire, the shed looked undamaged but the fact that there were a fireman hurriedly carrying two buckets of water inside the shed so clearly something was on fire.

 

Another fireman was lecturing a group of kids around David’s age, on closer inspection, Stanley spotted David among them, looking shamefaced and guilty.

 

“Hey what’s going on here?” Stanley asked as he walked up to them. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the White ladies walking up the driveway.

 

“David, I thought you and your friends were going to be at the arcade,” Mary remarked, an eyebrow raised as she crossed her arms over her chest.

 

“Well it seems that Charlie brought home something more than his laundry when he came home from college,” the fireman explained when the kids did not. “Mark found his stash and convinced his friends to try it with him.”

 

No one needed to ask him what Charlie had brought home; the boys practically stank of marihuana.  

 

“And what happened?” Mary demanded, her voice deadly soft as she her eyes narrowed at her son.

 

“The boys came here, thinking the shed would be the best place for them to hid what they were doing. But the munchies hit them before they were even halfway done with their…joints so they went inside to raid your fridge, leaving their lit pot unattended,” the fireman finished, giving his son a glare. “I will be using both Charlie and Mark’s allowance to pay for any damage and for the food they consumed.”

 

“Thank you, Earl. Would you mind dropping the other boys home while I call my husband and inform him that we need to have a serious talk about drugs?” Mary asked, waiting for the man to nod before she grabbed David by the arm and stalked towards the house with her son in tow. Eleanor and Samantha followed, perhaps to make sure their little brother wasn’t scolded too harshly.

* * *

 

An hour later the fireman and the other boys had left, leaving Stanley to walk into the shed so he could see what damage his boat had gotten.

 

The boys must have been smoking on the deck of the Stanowar as the damage seemed to be mostly there. It certainly wasn’t in as bad shape as it was when Ford and he first found it.  It would take a few months and maybe he should just tear up the rest of the deck and replace it was non-flammable wood. 

 

“Stan, are you mad at me?” a small voice asked from behind Stanley. David was standing behind him, looking down at his shoes, tears in his eyes. “Please don’t be mad at me. It was an accident. I swear I didn’t mean---”

 

_“It was an accident, Ford, I swear!”_

“Whoa, kid, calm down,” Stanley soothed him, walking over to the younger boy and wrapping his arm around him. “Take it from someone who has made a lot of mistakes, it’s okay to make mistakes even if you can’t fix them, you shouldn’t keep blaming yourself. Besides I was looking at the Stanowar and I think I can fix but I will need someone to work on our boat with me.”

 

At once David’s eyes lit up. “You mean it!” he exclaimed, his voice going from remorseful to excited in an instance.

 

“Whenever your punishment is over, we’ll get the supplies and starting fixing it until the Stanowar is as good as new,” Stan assured him, ruffling his hair.

 

“Mom says I’m grounded until summer vacation,” David grumbled. “I think she’s more mad at us making a mess in the kitchen when we were hungry.”

 

“Yeah, first rule of pot, always have food nearby for when you got the munchies,” Stanley remarked.

 

“I don’t think that’s the lesson we need to be teaching,” Dan stated calmly having entered just in time for Stan’s last line. “David, why don’t you go wash up for dinner while I talk to Stanley.”  He waited for David to run back to the house before turning to Stanley with a raised eyebrow. Stan waited for the interrogation on whether or not he was a druggie. “I think I can help.”

 

“What?”

 

“My wife overheard you talking to Eleanor about why your situation and I assume that was the unfixable mistake you were telling David about would be your brother’s project,” Dan remarked. Stanley only nodded, averting his eyes. “Well, I can’t guarantee it but I think I can I can get your brother into West Coast Tech.”

 

“You can? How?” Stanley asked, his eyes wide as he could scarcely believe his ears. Surely this was too good to be true.

 

“Well I have made numerous donations to West Coast Tech, contributed to some buildings and equipment so they owe me a favor but if I throw my name around, I will have to be certain your brother has the grades needed to be accepted in that school. They have enough people buying their children’s spots in colleges for me to do the same thing,” Dan said firmly.

 

“Oh trust me, my brother is the smartest guy there is,” Stan assured him. “Our room is filled with his little science projects.”

 

“Alright, I’ll make the call if you promise that after you graduate high school, you’ll also give college a shot as well,” Dan prompted, extending his hand for Stan to shake only for Stanley to hug him.

 

“Deal! Thank you so much!” Stanley exclaimed, becoming misty-eyed as he hugged the older man, overcome with gratitude. “Thank you. You don’t know how much this means to me.”  

 

“I will do everything in my power to help you, Stanley,” Dan told him softly, wrapping his arms protectively around the teenager.

 

“Any chance, you wanna toss around a football before dinner?” Stanley asked, half-meaning it as a joke but still feeling quite pleased when the older man agreed.

* * *

 

It was nearly midnight when Stanley decided to take a crack at his homework deciding that not procrastinating was the least, he could do for Dan.

 

But instead of focusing on his homework, his thoughts drifted to how his family would react when they learned that Ford would getting into his dream school after all.

 

Well he was certain Ma and Shermie would be pleased for Ford and also in hopes that this would repair the hole that Stanley had torn in their family. Would Ford finally understand that his brother’s actions had not been malicious? Would he be willing to make amends with his twin? Would Pa welcome Stanley home now that Ford stood to gain millions again? Did Stanley even want to return home.

 

Stanley’s musing was interrupted by someone knocking on the door.

 

“I know you are awake, Stan, may I come in?” Mary asked.

 

“Yeah, come in,” he answered, guessing Dan had informed his wife about what he was going to do. He wondered if she was hoping to convince him that it wasn’t a good idea. He knew that Mary was frugal and despite knowing her husband clearly had enough money to make sizable donations, she still felt he sometimes was too generous.

 

Mary walked in, closed the door and stood there for a few minutes, looking as though she was choosing her words carefully.

 

“I know that perhaps it’s not my place to make any sort of judgment on your father but I need you to understand that it shouldn’t have mattered what you did or how bad you acted, we did not deserve to be kicked out,” Mary told him firmly.

 

“We?” Stanley repeated, wondering if he had misheard her.

 

Mary swallowed and she averted her eyes. “When we first met, you told me your parents wouldn’t care. And I know what that meant because---I was sixteen and I was rebellious and stupid. I ended up getting myself in trouble with a boy who had just enlisted in the army. My parents didn’t care that the solider had promised to marry me when the war was over.   They called me a whore and they threw me and their unborn grandchild onto the streets. I was so distraught that I lost the baby. Luckily the soldier’s mother took me in and when he came home, he married me. I’m not saying that our situations are the same but Stanley, there are people here who will never throw you out no matter what mistakes you make.” 

 

 

“I know,” Stanley assured her not quite sure what to say to the bomb she had just dropped on him. “Thank you.”

 

Mary nodded, giving him a tearful smile before bidding him goodnight.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That bit of parents paying their kids' acceptance into colleges was a small take that to that lovely scandal my former favorite actress was involved in.  
> I want feedback please. What do you think of Dan being a foil to Filbrick? What did you think of Mary's backstory? Did you notice any interesting parallels?


End file.
